September 26, 2011

Doing the Right Thing

“Katey, what are you doing?” I said as I saw her slip a simple, charm bracelet into her cross body bag.

“Autumn, don’t make a scene,” she hissed at me through her gritted teeth. “I’m just taking a bracelet. What’s the big deal?”

“The big deal?” I said in utter shock. “The big deal is that you are stealing! You know that’s wrong, Katey!” I turned my head in every direction. “Where’s Missie? I know she’ll agree with me on this,” I said as I walked around the clothes racks.

I spotted Missie a few clothes racks away and called her over to where Katey and I were standing. “Tell Katey what a big deal stealing is!” I cross my arms, waiting for Missie to freak out.

“Well… Autumn, it’s only a bracelet, and besides, it cost, what, ten dollars maybe? It’s not that big of a deal.”

“Yes it is! Missie, she’s stealing something! We all know that stealing is wrong, no matter how much the item costs!”

“Autumn,” Katey said in a firm voice, as she grabbed my arm and dug her acrylic nails into my skin. “You are drawing attention to us, now shut up and listen. It’s a stupid bracelet. It’s just for a thrill. There’s nothing wrong with that. Now, if I were breaking into someone’s garage and stealing their Porsche, that would be totally different, but I’m not stealing a Porsche.”

“You know, you’re right,” I said. “You’re not stealing a Porsche… and you’re not taking that bracelet either, now hand it over!” I said as I stuck my hand out. Katey squinted her deep, brown eyes and stared at me. I stared back.

Missie stared at the both of us. “Autumn, we all have been friends since kindergarten. Are we really going to let a stupid bracelet get in the way of that?”

Katey stared at me. “Yeah, Autumn, are we?” she said as she cocked one eyebrow at me. I turned my back to them and walked away quickly, causing my flip flops to smack loudly on the tile.

I could not believe it! My two best friends thought that stealing was wrong! How could that be? We’ve all been raised in godly, Christian homes. We went to the same church. We attended the same Bible classes. How could they think that stealing wasn’t wrong?

I knew that I had to do something, but I wasn’t sure what that something was. Multiple thoughts ran through my mind.

“Should I tell someone? Should I find a store clerk? They might get arrested or something though. Should I call Katey’s parents? Pastor Ron?” I thought to myself.

I, quickly, pulled out of cell phone and called Katey’s mom. The phone rang three times before Mrs. Miller picked up.

“Hello Autumn, is something wrong?”

“Mrs. Miller, I’m sorry to have to bother you, but Katey is trying to steal a bracelet and she won’t listen to me. I was going to tell a clerk, but I knew that you and Mr. Miller would take care of the situation if I told you.”

“She’s what?!” Mrs. Miller exclaimed. “Paul! Paul!” I could hear her yelling through her hand-covered receiver. “Get in the car! Katey’s is trying to steal something!” She brought her attention back to me. “Where is she?” she asked.

“We’re in JcPennies. You need to hurry though.”

“Thank you, Autumn, for calling us and thank you for not telling a clerk. I can assure you that we will take care of this.” You could hear the disappointed in Mrs. Miller’s voice.

“Your welcome, Mrs. Miller. I was just trying to do what was right.” With that, we hung up and I went to find Katey and Missie.

After searching through the jewelry department, the women’s department and the bathroom, I found them trying on clothes in the junior’s department. You could tell by the irritated looks on their faces that they were not happy to see me back.

“What, did you come back to yell at me some more?” Katey asked in a firm voice.

“No, I wanted to apologize for yelling at you too. Yelling was wrong and I am sorry, but you two need to know that stealing is wrong. You know that God hates stealing. He even made it one of the Ten Commandments. I’m just trying to look out for you two.”

Almost like magic, Mr. and Mrs. Miller walked through the doors and spotted Katey, Missie and I. Katey’s eyes grew wide as she turned to look at me. “You called them?” she exclaimed.

“I had to, Katey. It was for your own good.”

“Autumn, I never would have ratted you out! How could you? How can you even call yourself my friend?” Katey yelled. I just looked down.

“Katey Anne Miller, come here right now!” Mrs. Miller yelled. Katey slowly made her way over to her mother. Missie and I stood a distance away from them, trying to give them some privacy.

“Missie, do you really believe that it’s okay to steal?” I asked her. I still couldn’t believe that my two best friends thought that.

Missie looked down at her shoes and clicked her heels together. “Well, I never found anything all that wrong with it, but after today and after you reminded me that God made it one of the Ten Commandments, I think it is wrong.”

“Oh no, I knew you’d do something and I’m glad you did. Also, don’t worry about, Katey. She won’t stay mad at you forever. I can guarantee you that this will be a lesson Katey and I will never forget.”

Have you ever been in Autumn's shoes? Have you ever had to do something hard like rat your friend out because you love and care for her? I have, and believe me when I tell you that it's hard. It's wrong to let someone do something wrong. It may be hard at first to tell on them, but it's the right thing to do, so take courage my sisters. Do the hard thing, do the right thing.